Jan. 31, 2014

Smartphones, wearable computers, and talking operating systems: There’s no denying that technology saturates our lives—mentally and physically—these days. Where do we go from here? That was the probing question at New Frontier, a multimedia showcase based at the Sundance Film Festival.

Since 2007, New Frontier’s installations have explored how people experiment with moving images. This year’s theme, “Primordial Pool,” delved into the idea of life springing from an amorphous landscape—in this case, one where technology has reached “a critical mass,” as Shari Frilot, a senior programmer at Sundance and New Frontier’s curator, put it. “The idea here of the primordial pool is to reframe the debate about our humanity's relationship to technology,” she said.

SciFri recently toured the exhibit hall to see how participants interpret our tech culture; check out the slideshow above for highlights.